IAEA closes Syria nuclear file

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors today adopted a resolution closing the file on Syria’s past clandestine nuclear activities during the Baathist regime, saying the country’s transitional government had helped resolve outstanding issues.

9 September, 2026 20:52

NEWS DESK

The decision followed years of investigations after Israel bombed a site in Deir ez-Zor province in 2007, which it said was a nearly completed secret nuclear reactor. The IAEA subsequently called on Damascus to clarify its nuclear activities, but no such clarification was provided in the following years.

In 2011, the IAEA Board of Governors concluded that Syria had violated its nuclear non-proliferation obligations and referred the case to the UN Security Council.

The IAEA said in a confidential report seen by Reuters last week that it had received answers to all questions concerning the outstanding issues. The new resolution said Syria was no longer in non-compliance with its obligations.

The agency’s report confirmed that it was “highly likely” that the site bombed by Israel in Deir ez-Zor had been a nuclear reactor, adding that the fuel used there had been manufactured in Syria.

The IAEA also found about 73 metric tons of natural uranium in Syria, most of it in the form of fuel rods. The material is currently under the agency’s safeguards.

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ANHA